Shopping bag



July 28, 1964 C. W. STANGE ETAL v SHOPPING BAG Original Filed Oct. 20, 1961 INVENTORS CHARLES 14 5774 N65 BY HAROLD R. SM/Tfl United States Patent Original application Oct. 20, 1961, Ser. No. 146,507. Divided and this application Jan. 9, 1963, Ser. No.

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-54) This application is a division of our presently pending application Serial No. 146,507 filed October 20, 1961, and entitled Dispenser for Shopping Bags, now abandoned, and is concerned with the bag per se as shown in FIG. 2 of said presently pending application.

While certain aspects of the inventive concept of the bag originally set forth in said application may be broadly applicable in bag structures, and while such aspects are subject to modifications as to size, shape, folding and handle arrangement and general construction, etc., as Well as methods of distribution, the bag as set forth in the original pending application is designed primarily for use in coin-controlled vending machines.

The present construction and fold arrangement provides bags which have carrying handles with means which serve to cover and protect the handles so as to prevent entanglement of the handles of adjacent bags in a supply or package. In particular, the present invention serves to afford such protection without modification or addition to the bag itself, but instead affords protection of the handles by positioning them beneath a portion of the bag in the manner hereinafter set forth.

The bag employed preferably is of satchel type and characterized by the provision of a bottom, which when folded, projects over one face of the bag to enclose and protect handles at the upper free edge of the bag, so as to facilitate machine handling thereof by precluding interference of the projecting cord handles with the smooth operation of the dispensing mechanism. As a divisional application, it will be understood that this application incorporates by reference, the statement of invention, objects and features of the parent application.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the bag of the present invention in an unfolded condition;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view through the bag of FIG. 1 when collapsed;

FIG. 3 is a view illustrating the folded arrangement of the bag; and

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a stack of such bags in a dispensing cabinet.

The bags 8 to be dispensed may be of any conventional or preferred size or shape, but preferably are of the type shown in FIG. 1 having a satchel bottom 12. When bags of this type are arranged in a flat unfolded form, they each present an end 14 with the bottom 12 extending away from said end to form a projecting edge 16 which overlies and is located adjacent the fiat face 18 of the bag. The bags of the present invention are provided with handles 20 which, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, may extend beyond the top 22 of the bag.

In order to prevent the handles 20 of the bags from becoming entangled with one another when the bags are pressed together during shipment and storage or when arranged one in front of another in the supply of bags placed in the dispensing equipment, as shown in FIG. 4, the bags of the present invention are arranged to provide means which overlie the handles. For this purpose, the

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bags are folded as shown in FIG. 3 so that the bags not only have their handles protected, but the projecting edge 16 of the bottom of the bag is spaced from the adjacent flat face 18 of the bag. The form, size, style and shape of the shopping bag may be conventional, but the bag is creased and folded along a median line 24 in such a direction that the top 22 of the bag with its handles 26 will also overlie the fiat face 18 of the bag over which the projecting edge 16 of the folded bottom 12 of the bag extends. The handles 20 are thus placed in a position wherein the handles are positioned beneath the projecting edge 16 of the folded bottom 12 of the bag. When the bag is thus folded, it not only has its handles protected, but the projecting edge 16 is caused to project outward somewhat from the adjacent flat face 13 of the bag when the bag is exposed as the foremost bag in a supply 10 of bags to be dispensed from equipment such as that of copending application Serial No. 146,507 or our issued Patent No. 3,00,549. Thus, the edge 16 of the bag is presented in a manner to facilitate removal of the foremost bag from the supply of bags 10; whereas, the opposite flat face 26 of the folded bag presents a substantially smooth and continuous surfaceassuring easy sliding of the bags relative to one another for removal of the bags one at a time from the supply 10 upon operation of the equipment.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the bags of the present invention have a compact, flat, folded form readily adapted for use in dispensing machines; whereas, the carrying handles of each bag are separated from the handles of any adjacent bag. The handles of each bag are, in fact, protected by substantially parallel paper surfaces located on opposite sides of the handles while being positioned adjacent and parallel to one of the fiat faces of the bag within the supply or bundle as shown in FIG. 4.

We claim:

A group of flattened and folded shopping bags for use in a shopping bag dispenser, each of said flattened bags presenting oppositely facing surfaces and a bottom portion which overlies and projects from one of said surfaces of the bag, said bags each having a top portion with flexible handles connected thereto and extending beyond the top of the bag, said bags each having a single fold line transversely thereof intermediate the top and bottom portions thereof, the top portion of the bag being folded along said fold line into a position wherein it overlies said one surface of the bag, said handles being positioned between the projecting bottom portion of the flattened bag and said one surface of the bag, the bags when thus folded each presenting an opposite, smooth unfolded face whereby the bag has a compact form and the handles of the bag are at least partially covered and protected by the projecting bottom portion of the bag, the bags of said group being positioned in engagement with each other with said one surface of each bag from which the bottom portion projects and overlies the handles of the bag facing in the same direction and in contact with the opposite, smooth unfolded face of an adjacent bag in the group.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,846,542 Budd Feb. 23, 1932 2,062,617 Steen Dec. 1, 1936 2,952,381 Rosner Sept. 13, 1960 3,000,549 Stange et al Sept. 19, 1961 

